Ordinary World
by Spydurwebb
Summary: Before the events of Logopolis, the Doctor needs some help. He shows up at Moreton Harwood on the doorstep of Lavinia Smith, looking for the robot dog belonging to her niece. Things never go as planned and the Doctor must make some life changing choices.
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

DECEMBER 1982

Virologist Lavinia Smith wrapped up her phone call with her agent in regards to her next lecture tour. She was slated to leave for West Germany in less than a week for a month long engagement across western Europe to support her latest work involving an outbreak of erythema infectiosum. She hated the thought of being away yet again for the Christmas holiday, especially as her only relative, her niece Sarah Jane Smith, was actually supposed to be home.

It was unusual for Sarah to stay put for very long, but the last few weeks, her freelance work kept her closer to home. During that time, Lavinia noticed that Sarah seemed almost melancholy. She wondered if it was because of the upcoming holidays, or whether it was something else.

Lavinia walked into the room she and Sarah used as an office and watched as Sarah sighed and just stared absently at her typewriter. 'You know, Sarah Jane, it works much better if you actually put your fingers on the keys.'

Sarah looked up and smiled. 'Really? I've been doing it wrong all these years. I always thought the words just appeared if I thought about them hard enough.'

Lavinia laughed and sat down in the chair closest to Sarah and turned to her niece, concern etched on her features. 'I'm worried about you Sarah.'

'Oh, why?'

'You've just been out of sorts the last couple of months. I was wondering if you needed to take a holiday.'

Sarah went back to staring at her typewriter and the blank sheet of paper inside it. 'It's possible, I suppose.'

'Sarah, dear, you went from travelling all over the world all the time to staying fairly close to home soil the better part of the last year. I can tell you miss it. There's an emptiness in your eyes I haven't seen in a long time.'

Sarah looked down. 'I suppose you're right, but what I really miss, I can't ever get back.' She sighed. 'Truth be told, I'm not sure I would want it back.'

'Meaning?' Lavinia asked.

'Meaning it was eye-opening and taught me so much, but it was also dangerous.' She reached out and put her hands on the keys, clicking a handful of them to string at least two words together. 'Maybe I do need a holiday. Something warm and relaxing where I can just spend my days in the sun lounging by a pool.'

Lavinia smiled, 'Actually, now that you describe it, Sarah Jane, maybe we both need a holiday. I tell you what, when I get back from that European tour, you and I should spend some time someplace warm, wouldn't you say? In fact, you pick the destination, then get my agent to arrange all the details.'

Sarah smiled. 'Sounds good to me.'

They both sat in silence, each of them pondering their idea of a relaxing holiday when the doorbell rang. Lavinia stood up. 'I'll get it. You go back to concentrating on that blank piece of paper you're staring at so intently.'

Sarah laughed as Lavinia headed out of the room.

Lavinia made her way to the door and opened it. On the other side was a tall man dressed in a long burgundy coat, complete with an impossibly long burgundy scarf. He ran a hand through his curly brown hair and smiled broadly. 'Oh hello. I was wondering if you'd seen my dog around anywhere?'

Lavinia politely shook her head. 'No, I'm sorry, I haven't seen or heard any dogs around here in quite some time.'

The Doctor gave her an odd look. 'Are you sure, about a half metre tall, made of metal, answers to "K9"?'

Before Lavinia could answer, K9 rolled towards the door. 'Master,' he acknowledged.

The Doctor brushed past Lavinia with a curt, 'Excuse me.' He knelt down in front of K9 and patted his head between his ears. 'K9, good to see you, I need your help.' He stood up again, 'Come on, boy, to the TARDIS.'

'Negative, Master.'

The Doctor spun back around. 'Negative?' he questioned before getting aggravated. 'Negative!'

'My directive is to remain with the Mistress.'

'But I'm the one that programmed you with that directive.'

'Affirmative, Master. You also programmed that it could not be countermanded.'

The Doctor reached out to kick K9, but the dog rolled backwards, causing the Doctor to miss him. 'You stupid metal mutt!'

'Excuse me,' Lavinia started, but the Doctor held up a hand to silence her. She quickly put her hands on her hips, 'Now just a moment. You can't come barging into my house and act like you own the place.'

'That's what he does, Aunt Lavinia.' Sarah's soft voice startled them both as they turned to face her. She crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe. 'I'll take care of this,' she said to her aunt.

Lavinia saw a spark of determination in Sarah's eyes that she hadn't seen in a while. 'As you wish, dear.' She squeezed Sarah's arm as she headed back towards the interior of the house.

Sarah looked at the Doctor, but said nothing. She took in his appearance and noted the difference from the last time she'd seen him. For a start, his outfit was different. Similar to what she remembered, but noticeably different. His long jacket was now burgundy, with a burgundy shaded scarf, still impossibly long, but not in the varied colours. Gone were the waistcoat and the tie. His hair was lighter and the curls were not as tight. His face seemed more lined than she remembered, and his eyes, while just as blue, didn't sparkle with the life she remembered.

The Doctor had hoped he could grab K9 for the computation he needed, then return him to Sarah Jane without her seeing him. Not that he minded seeing her, but it did bring up feelings and questions that he didn't particularly want to get into. Nevertheless, Sarah now stood leaning against a doorframe, arms crossed, looking every bit as he remembered her. He could tell a short amount of time had passed. Her hair was cut differently and her clothes seemed more modern to Earth, but other than that, she looked exactly the same. He finally found his voice, although it came out much lower and softer than he might've intended. 'Hello, Sarah Jane.'

'Insulting my dog, Doctor?'

'I apparently programmed him to follow instructions, something he actually manages to do, as opposed to most of my companions.'

Ignoring the Doctor's comment, Sarah pushed herself off the doorframe and walked over to K9, kneeling next to him and patting him on the head. 'Good dog.' She finally turned to the Doctor, but didn't stand up. 'Trying to take K9 back?'

'I need his help.'

'Why?'

'I need to get some calculations to take with me to Logopolis. They'll then help me with the block transfer computation to finally fix the chameleon circuit.'

She finally stood up. 'Why now?'

'I'm not sure being so conspicuous is a good thing.'

Sarah laughed. 'Since when?' She gestured towards his apparel. 'That makes you stand out. Not many people care to carry off a scarf that's twice as long as they are tall. The burgundy is different though.'

'Sarah,' the Doctor chided.

'Why are you really here? You can do computations with any computer. Why K9? Why here, why now?'

'Sarah.'

She walked over to stand in front of him. 'So we've established that you haven't forgotten my name. That's a good start.'

The Doctor, not knowing exactly what to say to her, closed the distance between them and without a word, he quickly took her face in his hands, locking gazes with her. In that moment, so many things passed unsaid between them.

Sarah would've shrunken back from the intensity of his gaze, but she felt permanently rooted to the spot. The years they'd been separated seemed to melt away in a moment. As his thumbs traced across her cheekbones, her eyes closed as she took a deep breath, getting lost in his caress.

Sarah reached up and put a hand on his chest and took a step back to pull herself together. 'Doctor,' she said softly.

Reluctantly, he let his hands fall to his sides. 'I never forgot, Sarah,' his voice was soft and gentle as he finally answered her unspoken question.

She looked into his eyes and was about to say something when a large explosion from outside shattered the windows, put out the lights and shook the ground hard enough to cause them both to fall.

~!~!~!~


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

Once the ground quit shaking, Sarah absently noted that the Doctor had covered her body with his to protect her from any falling debris. As they both stood up, she ignored his outstretched hand. 'I'm fine,' she said softly in answer to his unspoken question. 'We need to get the lights on and find out what that was.' She worked her way across the room and grabbed a torch from the shelf and used it to guide her way into the other room.

She reached her aunt just as Lavinia turned on her own torch and looked around, quickly assessing the situation. 'We don't normally have earthquakes in this part of England,' Lavinia said, shining her light towards Sarah.

'I don't think it was an earthquake,' Sarah replied. 'Are you all right, Aunt Lavinia?''

'Yes, of course.' Lavinia pointed the light at Sarah's head and quickly looked from her head to her feet. 'You're not hurt?'

'No, I'm fine. Are you sure you're all right?' Sarah asked again. She knew her aunt was just as determined as she was and wouldn't admit it if she had been injured.

'Sarah Jane,' Lavinia scolded. 'I'm perfectly fine. I am more concerned with why the generator failed, it should be up and running by now.'

Sarah frowned, knowing Lavinia was right. Unless something had damaged the generator as well. 'Why don't you make sure things are in line here while the Doctor and I check the grounds and get the generator going?'

'That sounds good dear.'

'All right, but I'll leave K9 with you, in case you need anything.'

'Just be careful, Sarah Jane.'

'You too.' Sarah and the Doctor made their way outside after Sarah told K9 to assist Lavinia.

'Whatever that was took out all the lights on the entire property,' the Doctor said quietly.

'Obviously,' Sarah said dryly. 'We'll head out across the market garden. We keep a backup generator there to power the essentials in the house.'

'Good girl,' the Doctor said with a grin. 'I knew I could count on you.'

Sarah continued walking, stepping out in front of the Doctor, making sure to lead the way. 'Whatever has happened would've happened with or without you here. You're not counting on me, I would've been here regardless.'

The Doctor frowned, even though he knew Sarah couldn't see it. She'd always been moody during their time together, but there was an unmistakable new edge to her voice that hadn't been there before.

They continued walking in relative silence, yet keeping their distance from each other. Sarah couldn't believe that he was here, with her, after so many years apart. She wasn't sure how she felt about his sudden appearance, to say nothing about his attempted dognapping of K9.

She'd been keeping her eyes peeled on the areas around them, trying to notice anything different, anything that could've caused the explosion that rocked the house, but nothing seemed out of place. Finally, she spoke. 'I tell you what Doctor, why don't I continue on to the generator, and you can take a look around and see if you can find what caused the explosion?'

'Good thinking, we'll cover more ground that way.'

Sarah nodded, then realised that he might not have seen it. 'I'll catch you up once I get the lights on.'

As Sarah started to walk away, the Doctor stepped forward and reached out towards her, catching her hand. 'Be careful, Sarah. We don't know what's out there.'

'Never was a truer statement made, Doctor,' she said flippantly, but then paused and gave his hand a squeeze. 'You be careful too.'

~!~!~!~

Just as Sarah turned on the generator, bringing light back to the area, she frowned as she looked around and immediately noticed the large crater disrupting the otherwise undisturbed landscape. She could see the whipping of the Doctor's scarf even from the distance. He was looking over into the crater and seemed to be gesticulating wildly and talking, although she couldn't make out the words.

She rushed to join him and looked out over the edge of the massive crater. It seemed to go down at least ten metres and was twenty metres wide. 'What are they?' Sarah asked quietly as she noted the ship at the bottom of the crater and a being exiting the craft and climbing up towards them.

The Doctor frowned. 'Scandari.' He glanced over at Sarah. 'This isn't good.'

'What are Scandari?'

The Doctor sighed. 'Scavenger race. They go searching planets to mine them of their mineral content for food. Normally the planets they choose are uninhabited, so no one has interfered. If they're here, it can't be good. We'll need to stop them.'

The Scandari finished his climb up the side of the crater and now stood in front of them. He was two and a half metres tall, and covered in metal-like armour. His form was humanoid, even down to the facial skin colour, except he had four arms instead of two.

The Doctor addressed the Scandari as he reached out an arm and gently pushed Sarah behind him. 'State your intention for Earth. Why are you here?'

The Scandari regarded the Doctor for a moment, tilting his head to the side, taking in the Doctor's life signs before speaking. 'You are a Time Lord. This is not your world or your concern.'

The Doctor smiled. 'Let's just say I have a vested interest.'

'We have no reason to hide our purpose from you. We have only one goal. To use this planet as a food source, converting its mineral base into nutritious substances that our population can use to fight the famine plaguing our planet.'

'Destroy one planet to save another! Not only is that highly unethical, there's no way I'll stand by and let you do this,' the Doctor countered. 'Just go back to your ship and leave. Immediately.'

'You have no authority here, Time Lord.'

Sarah stepped forward. 'Maybe he doesn't, but I do.'

'Your planet is the perfect fodder for us, Earthling. You have no say in our plans.'

'Oh really? Have you ever considered that your scans may be wrong?'

The Doctor shot Sarah a questioning glance. Scandari scanning methods were well known across the universe. He knew the Scandari's initial scans would've accurately tabulated the chemical and mineral composition of the planet down to the last element.

The Scandari turned on Sarah, approaching to stand less than six inches from her yet towering over her slight frame. 'The scans cannot be inaccurate. This planet has one of the most varied compositions we've ever discovered. It will sustain us for quite some time.'

Sarah looked up at him, refusing to back down. 'I think your scans are out of date. We've mined and used the natural resources to a point where they're no longer useful. Scan me, and see if I'm not giving you more up to date information.'

The Doctor stepped up and grabbed her hand. 'Sarah, you can't,' he insisted.

Sarah turned to him. 'I don't have a choice.'

'You don't know what them scanning you even entails.'

'It doesn't matter,' she said calmly, giving his hand a gentle squeeze. 'It's either me or the planet. I think the planet wins.' She turned back to the Scandari. 'Do it.'

The Scandari grabbed Sarah by the arm, pulling her away from the Doctor. From the pain etched on Sarah's face, the Doctor knew the vice grip on her arm was painful. Upon closer inspection, he could see smoke rising as the fabric of her sweater burned at the point of contact. The Scandari then released Sarah and took several steps back away from her.

Sarah glanced down and noted how the fabric on the arm of her sweater had literally melted. Clenching her eyes shut, she ignored the throbbing pain in her arm and focused her mind on showing the bleakest images of the planet she could think of. She knew it was up to her alone. She had to make sure the Scandari knew that Earth was unsuitable for their needs.

The Doctor watched as the Scandari reached out an arm towards Sarah, but without touching her, lifted her a good half metre above the ground with the power of his mind. A high-pitched squeal echoed through the air as the scan started. The Doctor fought the urge to run towards the Scandari as he saw the intense pain etched on Sarah's face and knew the amount of enormous pressure that now coursed throughout her body. He wanted to take her place, to not see her suffer or be harmed in any way, but at this point, there was nothing he could do.

Even for the Doctor, it seemed as if time stopped as the Scandari continued their scan of Sarah. Finally, the ear-piercing squeal stopped, leaving nothing but the echo of silence, but Sarah stayed frozen, suspended in mid-air. The Scandari looked at the Doctor. 'This human has provided more up to date scans. This planet is unsuitable to our needs.'

Without another word, the Scandari teleported back to his ship, the pressure to Sarah's body finally eased, and the force of them holding her in the air disappeared, leaving her to collapse on the ground, unconscious. The Doctor vaguely noticed the ship taking off as he rushed to Sarah's side, quickly gathering her up in his arms. As he cradled her to him, he avoided the melted fabric on her one arm, knowing the skin underneath had to be badly burned. He also worried about the damage to her mind, given both her proclivity for being hypnotised, and with what he knew about the Scandari scanning methods. She had to have made the images realistic, or they wouldn't have believed her.

The Doctor had always known that Sarah was stronger than the average human, as she'd proven repeatedly during their time together, but she never had to undertake such an extreme effort before. He wouldn't know the true extent of her injuries until they were in the TARDIS and Sarah had been properly scanned.

Trying not to jostle her, the Doctor stood up with Sarah safely tucked in his arms as he headed towards the TARDIS. He had forgotten how light she could be, and while he didn't like the fact that she was currently unconscious, he did feel that her being in his arms seemed right somehow.

He banished that line of thinking, knowing he had to focus on Sarah and her emotional and physical well being. Once he was sure she was all right, then he could allow his mind to wander.

After all, he had a lot of thinking to do.

~!~!~!~


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

The Doctor made his way directly to the sickbay of the TARDIS and carefully put Sarah on one of the beds. He tried to position her so she'd be as comfortable as possible, and pulled a blanket up around her. He kept her left arm on top of the blanket, so he could attend to her burn. Shedding his coat and scarf, he gathered several pieces of equipment out of the medical cabinets before rolling up his sleeves and turning his attention to Sarah.

He quickly took the equivalent of a pair of scissors and cut away the material of her sweater up to her elbow, leaving only the bits that had melted to her skin. He took a small pillow and used it to elevate her arm. He went back to the cabinet and pulled out a small wand-like device. After adjusting the settings, he turned it on, causing it to emit a bluish glow. As he scanned it over Sarah's arm, the melted fabric slowly dissolved, and the skin underneath it was painstakingly cleaned and sterilised.

The Doctor frowned at the obvious burns that he was sure that even with his equipment would probably leave some form of scar. He picked up the DermaGenerator and hovered it over the area, watching the skin repair itself. He then gently massaged a repairing cream into the newly generated skin, and carefully wrapped it in a bandage.

Once he was sure he'd done all he could, the Doctor gently traced his fingers along Sarah's face. 'My Sarah Jane,' he said softly, willing her to wake up. He looked at the screen that was monitoring all her other vital signs and determined that her condition was stable. There was nothing else he could do until she regained consciousness, so he pulled up a chair to Sarah's bedside, took her hand in his and waited.

For a Time Lord, each unit of time is measured and marked. Time doesn't fly by and it can't be lost track of. For the Doctor in particular, waiting for Sarah to regain consciousness seemed to take an eternity. Yet he knew as she watched her closely that only five and three quarter minutes had passed from the time he finished attending to her burn.

Sarah's eyes fluttered open and she was instantly met with the worried blue eyes of the Doctor staring down at her. 'Did it work?' she asked softly.

Standing up and leaning in close to her, he examined her eyes carefully, trying to quickly gauge the mental damage done, but unable to determine anything conclusive. He squeezed the hand he was still holding, and with his other hand, he reached up and cupped her cheek, a relieved smile crossing his features. He spoke just above a whisper. 'It did. Magnificently. Oh Sarah, you were amazing, truly amazing.'

She smiled weakly. 'Oh good.' Her eyes closed again. 'I feel like I've been drug through a hedge backwards.'

She looked back up at him as he tried to suppress another smile, knowing she'd used that description with him once before. 'I'm sure you do,' he said as he ghosted the back of his fingers along her forehead and cheek. He felt, more than heard her sigh and watched as her eyes closed yet again, exhaustion overtaking her. He continued to watch her for a moment, but realised that she would probably sleep for a while, so he grabbed his coat and scarf and headed for the console room to float the TARDIS in the time vortex.

~!~!~!~

Once the TARDIS landed, the Doctor poked his head outside and looked around the living room of the manor house. He adjusted his coat as he stepped outside only to instantly be met by Lavinia. Her hands were on her hips, a posture he'd seen mirrored many times by Sarah. 'Ah Lavinia, are things all right here?'

'Perfectly fine, although I don't think we were ever properly introduced.'

He reached out and took one of her hands in both of his and shook it warmly, a large smile spreading across his face. 'Well, I'm the Doctor, and you're Sarah's Aunt Lavinia. Noted virologist, author of "The Teleological Response of the Virus". Amazing work by the way. Most definitely ahead of its time.'

Lavinia sighed. 'Sarah's told me about you, Doctor, but I never really quite knew how much to really believe.' She reached out and touched the frame of the TARDIS. 'I see this definitely wasn't a figment of her imagination.'

'No, of course not.' He patted the TARDIS door affectionately.

Lavinia got right down to business. 'Where's Sarah?'

'The explosion was caused by a race known as the Scandari. Sarah single-handedly saved the entire planet. You should be very proud of her.'

She didn't like the Doctor's tone. There was something he wasn't saying. 'Doctor, where is she?' she asked sternly.

The Doctor took a deep breath. 'She was hurt, but she'll be all right.'

Before Lavinia could demand yet again to know Sarah's location, both of them turned as the TARDIS door opened and Sarah slowly came out. The Doctor was first to speak. 'Sarah, you should be resting.'

She nodded. 'You're right, I should, but the bio-beds in the TARDIS sickbay aren't exactly known for comfort.' She reached up and massaged her temples and at both the Doctor's and Lavinia's questioning expressions, she replied, 'Nasty headache.' Turning to Lavinia, she continued, 'Are you all right, Aunt Lavinia? The Scandari didn't hurt you or cause any more damage, did they?'

Lavinia put an arm around Sarah's waist and guided her to the sofa, sitting down beside her. 'No dear, they didn't. I'm completely fine but I'm more concerned about you. The Doctor said you were hurt.'

'I'm fine, really, just tired,' Sarah insisted. 'What about the broken windows?'

'Geoffrey came and took care of the issues in the house until someone can come around tomorrow to fix things properly. So don't worry, it's all taken care of.' Lavinia patted Sarah's leg gently, then stood up and walked across to put another log onto the fire. 'Why don't you sit here and get warmed up. I'll make you some tea.'

Sarah finally smiled. 'I'd like that, thank you.' As Lavinia left the room, Sarah turned around and noted that the Doctor hadn't moved from his spot by the TARDIS door. 'Leaving already?' She couldn't stop the slight wobble in her voice, some of it coming from the exhaustion and the headache, but another part coming from the fear that he was going to disappear from her life without a word, yet again. She hoped he didn't notice.

The Doctor caught the uncertainty in Sarah's voice, as well as the look in her eyes. He quickly made his way across the room to kneel in front of her. 'I'd never leave you like this, Sarah.' He reached up and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. 'Tell me what happened when the Scandari scanned you.'

'I showed them they were wrong. That there wasn't anything for them here.'

Lavinia came in with the tea and sat it down on the table closest to Sarah. She poured a mug and sat down next to Sarah, holding the mug out to her. 'Here you are, dear.'

'Thank you.' Sarah took the mug from Lavinia and clutched it tightly before taking a sip and closing her eyes. After a minute, she opened her eyes and looked over from her aunt to where the Doctor was still watching her intently. 'What?' she asked.

'There's more to it than that, Sarah. The Scandari are known for many things, their scanning techniques chief amongst them,' the Doctor said softly, knowing that at some point, she was going to need to talk about what happened. He could sense that there was some damage to her mind, but it was more emotional, even if it manifested itself as a physical headache.

Sarah reached over and sat her tea on the table before running a hand across her eyes and then through her hair. 'I'm sorry, I can't.' She closed her eyes and bowed her head. 'I'm just so tired.'

'I know the feeling.' Lavinia stood up, 'Why don't you go upstairs, Sarah Jane? It's after three am. You could do with some proper sleep, as could I.' She turned to the Doctor. 'We have a guest room, if you'd like to stay as well, Doctor, although I know you have plenty of room in your ship.' She gestured towards the TARDIS.

The Doctor stood up and walked with Lavinia to the interior doorway. Lavinia reached out and put a hand on the Doctor's arm. 'I don't like that haunted look in her eyes, Doctor, please make sure she rests.'

'I'll watch over her,' the Doctor said. 'I promise you. She'll be fine.' He watched as Lavinia cast another glance in Sarah's direction before looking back to him and giving him an understanding nod. Once she headed upstairs, the Doctor turned and walked over to sit beside Sarah on the sofa.

Sarah glanced over at him before staring at her hands that were now folded in her lap. 'So, I guess you'll be going soon, won't you?' It was more of a statement than a question. She knew his habit of leaving immediately after a crisis. In fact, a part of her was surprised he was still there. She would've processed that line of thinking further, except the residual ache in her head continued to distract her.

The Doctor stood up, took off his coat and scarf and draped them across the nearby chair before sitting back down. Sarah watched him intently. 'Doctor?'

'I made a promise, Sarah. I have to make sure you're all right.'

'I'm fine, really.' She leaned over and propped her elbows on her knees, holding her head in her hands. After a minute, she sat up, 'Just tired, I think.'

He noticed how heavy her eyes seemed. Given the circumstances she'd just been through, a thirty-minute nap in the TARDIS sickbay was not nearly enough time to recover. He reached out and wrapped an arm around Sarah's shoulders, drawing her towards him until her head rested against his chest. 'Oh Sarah,' he whispered. 'You just rest now.'

She didn't resist, instead, she curled up against him and finally allowed her eyes to close.

~!~!~!~

The Doctor stared straight ahead into the fireplace in front of him, fixed on the ashes that were all that remained of the previous evening's roaring fire. He was still sitting on the sofa in the living room of the manor house with Sarah curled up next to him, her head resting against his chest as she continued to sleep. He had his arm draped across her shoulders and played absently with her hair, letting his mind wander as he just enjoyed the feeling of having her so close to him.

He leaned down, brushing his lips lightly against Sarah's temple, being careful not to disturb her. She'd had a rough go with the Scandari, and despite her short nap in the TARDIS sickbay, he knew she was exhausted. He closed his eyes and let the silence envelop them both.

Lavinia came in and saw them together. Several things went through her mind at once, none of them particularly pleasant or approving. She walked over to sit in the chair closest to the Doctor as he opened his eyes. She smiled at Sarah's sleeping form, then turned a more steely gaze in the Doctor's direction. When Lavinia spoke, her voice was soft so as not to disturb Sarah, but there was no mistaking the no-nonsense tone. 'How is she?'

The Doctor continued to stroke Sarah's hair as he whispered in response, 'She's been asleep almost since you went upstairs. Her arm will take some time to heal, and she's mentally exhausted, but other than that, she'll be fine.'

'I have to ask, what are your intentions towards my niece?'

'Intentions? I don't have intentions.'

'Doctor, you whisked her away to the farthest reaches of creation, then dropped her back with no explanation. Now you're sitting here, apparently back in her life as if you've never been gone. Are you going to disappear again, leaving her more shattered than before?'

'Shattered? Sarah may be many things, but I can't see that she's even capable of being "shattered" as you say.'

'That young woman always thought the stars revolved around you. Still does. And you've given her nothing to contradict that thought. One thing is always consistent in what Sarah tells me. You leave. And this time, Doctor, I'm afraid that when you leave, you will break her heart again.'

The Doctor looked down at the still sleeping Sarah, his hearts aching at the thought of her in pain, physically or emotionally. Especially if he was the cause of any of it. In the time they'd travelled together, she'd become his weakness, but one he realised he never wanted to be separated from. 'Sarah wasn't the first person to travel with me, and she wasn't the last. However, right now, I can honestly say that she's the most important person in the universe to me, and I don't want to do anything to cause her harm.'

Lavinia leaned forward and put a hand on the Doctor's arm that wasn't still wrapped around Sarah. 'Then leave sooner, rather than later.' At the Doctor's surprised expression, she continued. 'Do it quickly, before she has a chance to become reattached to you.' She sighed as she noted the peaceful expression on Sarah's face even as she slept. 'Although I'm afraid it may already be too late.'

The Doctor again looked down to Sarah, then back up to Lavinia as her words sunk in. 'What if I don't want to leave her?'

'If you're really serious about not leaving, then prove it and make sure she knows how important she is to you.' With that, Lavinia stood up, leaving the Doctor to his thoughts once more.

~!~!~!~


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

Sarah opened her eyes and realised she was still curled up against the Doctor. Realising he was asleep, she sat up slowly, untangling herself from his embrace, being careful not to wake him. A large part of her didn't want to get too comfortable, knowing in her heart that he would leave soon and needing to maintain her distance. It was hard to keep it up as she looked over and noted his relaxed features as he napped. She resisted the urge to reach out and run her hands through his wavy curls. Their time had passed, she reminded herself, although she couldn't stop her heart from softening as she continued to watch him. This was the same genius that shouted down Daleks and other madmen, and yet here, now, while sleeping, he seemed the most gentle of beings.

He stirred, but didn't open his eyes. 'Sarah,' he mumbled.

Sarah smiled and reached out to put a hand on his chest. 'I'm here, Doctor,' she said softly.

The Doctor's eyes opened, blinking a couple of times as he looked over at Sarah and smiled. 'Ah, you're awake.' He stood up and walked over to the chair where his coat and scarf were. He picked up his scarf and looped it around his neck. 'Feeling better?'

Sarah reached up and massaged the back of her neck. 'Well, other than a slight crick in my neck, yes.'

'Good, good.' He quickly knelt in front of Sarah. 'So, tell me what happened with the Scandari.'

Sarah shook her head. 'It's over and done, I'd rather not revisit it.'

He knew she needed to go ahead and deal with it, or the buried emotions and sensations would haunt her for years. Better to deal with it now rather than later. He reached out and gently took her chin in his hand and guided her head to lock gazes with her. 'Sarah,' he said, his voice dropping to a hypnotic level. 'Tell me what happened. It's dangerous for you to bury this. I can help you process it.'

Sarah closed her eyes. 'I can't.'

'You can,' he said encouragingly as he rested his hands on her knees. 'Just let me help you.'

When she opened her eyes, the Doctor could see the tears forming, and when the words came, there was no mistaking the uncertainty in her voice. 'Will it ease this headache I can't seem to shake?'

'It should, yes.'

She bit her bottom lip and stared into his eyes, watching concern radiate from them. With a sigh, she finally resigned herself to his offer. 'What do you want me to do?'

The Doctor smiled as he reached up to tweak her nose. 'Same thing we always do.' He placed his index fingers on her temples. 'Just concentrate, Sarah.'

Suddenly, his mind was flooded with images from Sarah's mind. He could see and feel everything she saw and felt during the scan. He saw the desolation of the images she showed the Scandari. He recognised the Sahara Desert, Antarctica and even the surface of the moon. He could feel her raw emotions as she channelled all of her personal pain and loss to emphasise the images she was showing. His hearts broke at the realisation of how much pain and rejection she kept buried just below the surface. Things that started as a small child when she lost her parents all the way through to her sense of abandonment when he'd left her. It made her distance from him finally make sense. Her every thought was highly concentrated to only show precisely what she wanted. He could even feel the pain from the burn on her arm and the physical pressure of being suspended in mid-air.

As if he were watching a television that lost reception, the images went to a blurry snow. 'That's it,' Sarah said softly.

'You don't need to hold on to the pain anymore. You're free of it, Sarah. It's over.' The Doctor reached up and touched her temples again. Sarah immediately leaned forward and covered her face with her hands as she began to cry. His hearts ached, knowing just how much raw emotion she still carried and wanting to help her in any way she would let him. He quickly sat next to her, reached out and pulled her towards him, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close, tucking her head under his chin. 'Hey, shhh, Sarah, it's all right. It's all right now. It's all over,' he said softly, trying to soothe her. He dropped a kiss on the top of her head then turned to rest his cheek against her hair.

After several moments of just letting the Doctor hold her, Sarah finally pulled back and reached up to wipe away her tears. 'I'll tell K9 to assist you in those computations you wanted to do.' Her voice was muted and emotionless.

'It can wait, Sarah. You're more important.'

She shook her head. 'I know you want to get going and fix the chameleon circuit, so I won't stand in your way.'

The Doctor reached out and took Sarah by the shoulders, turning her to face him before moving his hands to her face. He leaned in, his face mere inches from hers. His voice was insistent. 'I'm not leaving, you silly girl.'

Sarah tilted her head slightly, even as he still held her face. 'What?' she asked softly, wanting to take his words at face value, but unsure.

He stared intently at her as his thumbs traced intricate patterns on her cheeks, their gazes locked for the longest time with no further words being spoken. His mind weighed every possible word to balance exactly what he needed to say to get his point across. Finally, he sighed. 'Sometimes, Sarah, words are overrated.' Leaning in cautiously, he gave her the most gentle of kisses before pulling back and looking again into her eyes.

Sarah reached up and ran her fingers gently along his face, watching as he closed his eyes and turned into her caress. 'Maybe I need to hear the words,' she said softly.

He opened his eyes, watching her before finally whispering, 'I don't want to leave you.'

The Doctor watched as the look on Sarah's face changed from surprise to a gentle smile. A contagious smile that warmed his hearts to the core as he quickly solidified his decision. While he knew that it wouldn't be easy, he also knew that it was the right thing to do.

~!~!~!~

The Doctor stood in the console room of the TARDIS, his fingers quickly moving over the controls. K9 was under the console, probe extended, communicating data back and forth even as his antenna ears rotated.

The Doctor hung his head and sighed, then slowly looked up at the time rotor as it moved, indicating travel in the vortex. A million things were going through his mind at once, but they all solidified around one thought. He'd lied to his best friend. Or had he? 'Have I made a mistake, K9?'

K9 wagged his tail as his considered the Doctor's words. 'Insufficient data, Master.'

'You know very well what I'm talking about.'

'Affirmative, Master.'

'And?'

'Mistake is not the proper word, Master. Choice would be more acceptable. As for the validity of your choice, the circumstances are beyond my ability to give you a proper response.'

The Doctor slammed down one of the levers. 'Oh who asked you?' he said angrily.

'You did...'

The Doctor cut him off. 'It wasn't a question. Daft tin dog.' The Doctor walked around to the interior door. As he opened it, he saw the Watcher standing there, dressed all in white. He quickly slammed the door shut again. 'I can't do it,' he muttered under his breath. He turned back to K9. 'Hurry up with those calculations, K9. We have someplace to be.' And without another word, he opened the interior door again and walked through into the heart of the TARDIS.

~!~!~!~

Sarah sat in the kitchen, staring into her mug of tea. She wrapped her fingers tightly around it and took a sip, then closed her eyes, letting the smell and the warmth from the mug soothe her. She was trying to figure out exactly what had happened. Early this morning, she'd woken up next to the Doctor on the sofa and he'd told her he didn't want to leave. She set her mug down and absently ran her first two fingers along her lips as she recalled the earlier kiss that was now seared into her memory.

Afterwards, she'd gone upstairs to get dressed, and when she same back down, the Doctor was nowhere to be found. Both he and the TARDIS had disappeared, and she'd not been able to find K9 either. She had to assume the Doctor had taken her up on her offer to take K9 for his calculations, although knowing the Doctor, she figured she'd not see either of them again. She refused to cry this time, even as she kept her eyes firmly shut, warding off the tears that kept threatening to fall. She silently cursed her own stupidity in believing him, even for just a moment.

Lavinia walked into the kitchen and saw Sarah's lost expression, the melancholy from earlier had obviously come flooding back in spades. 'So, where's your Doctor then?' she asked softly.

Sarah opened her eyes and took a deep breath before responding. 'I don't know,' she replied. 'I haven't seen either him or K9 since early this morning. So I imagine they've gone.'

Lavinia reached out and put a hand on Sarah's arm. 'You mean he didn't say anything?'

'Well, he's not big on goodbyes.'

Lavinia took a deep breath, her heart going out to her niece, even as she hoped she was wrong. 'Oh Sarah dear, I'm sorry.'

'It's what he does, Aunt Lavinia. He pops in and out of people's lives, changes them, often times for the better, but then he leaves. He can't stay or get too attached. Especially to humans.' Sarah sighed. 'I think we remind him how fragile life can be, since we pack so much into such a short span of time. What's a lifetime for us is merely a blip to him. Can't say as I'd be any different if I were in his place.'

Lavinia sat back and crossed her arms, thinking of the scene she'd observed early that morning and linking Sarah's melancholy to her feelings for the Doctor. 'I don't know, Sarah Jane. I saw something else in your Doctor when I saw him earlier.'

Sarah tilted her head slightly, waiting for her aunt to continue.

Lavinia thought about the comment the Doctor had made about not wanting to leave Sarah and hoped that he would actually have the decency to say goodbye if he had truly decided to depart. 'I think he's a bit jealous of the lives we humans lead. I can tell he cares about you very much, so I doubt very seriously he'd leave you again. At least not without saying goodbye this time.'

'Maybe you're right. However I'm not going to get my hopes up. Not this time.' Sarah stood up. 'I think I'll go out and get some fresh air. It might be the best thing for me, seeing I still have a bit of a lingering headache.'

Lavinia sighed as she watched Sarah head towards the door. 'Don't stay out too long, dear. It's getting dark and the snow is really coming down now.'

~!~!~!~


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

Sarah wandered amongst the greenhouses of the market garden, lost in her own thoughts. Just as Lavinia said, the snow was falling heavily now, and the quietness it surrounded her with soothed her soul. She stopped walking and stood still, turning her head towards the sky, closing her eyes and allowing the snow to silently land on her face and melt. The melting snow mingled with her tears, leaving tracks that chilled her skin. She breathed in deeply and opened her eyes to observe the clouds moving above. Every so often, the clouds would break enough to allow her to see a glimpse of the stars, but close to hide them again. The parallels to her life only served to start a fresh set of tears.

She ignored the darkness that descended around her, knowing her way around the property well enough for it not to bother her. She resumed her walk, and turned the corner around one of the greenhouses, only to be surprised by a blob of burgundy sitting in the snow ahead of her. Her hand quickly covered her mouth to keep from gasping audibly. It was something she hadn't expected to see.

As she approached the Doctor, she cleared her throat, so as not to startle him. He didn't move from his spot in the snow, but continue to stare straight ahead. He was leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and his chin resting in his hands. She reached out cautiously and put a hand on his shoulder, as she softly spoke. 'I'm surprised to see you. When I couldn't find you earlier, I assumed you bundled up K9 and disappeared.'

He didn't acknowledge her statement, but instead softly replied, 'Peaceful night.'

She pulled her hand back from his shoulder. 'I think that's one of the reasons I haven't rushed back to getting another flat in town. I'm not around often enough for a start, and for another, when I need a home base, there's plenty of room here. Aunt Lavinia doesn't mind, she's gone as much as I am.' She took a deep breath and looked up. 'Besides, there's no interfering lights, so I can come out here, stare up at the stars and feel a little closer to them somehow.' She gave a small, self-depreciating laugh. 'Silly, I know, but there you go.'

The Doctor reached up and caught her hand in his, finally looking up at her and watching her wistfully stare at the sky. 'It's not silly,' he finally said after a moment, his voice low and soft as she looked down at him. 'I can see some of the appeal.'

'So where is K9? And the TARDIS for that matter?'

He let go of her hand, interlaced his fingers and rested them on his knees as he focused on the snow directly in front of his boots. 'The TARDIS is parked in the crater left by the Scandari. K9 is working on analysing some soil samples I took earlier, just to make sure there wasn't anything nasty left behind that could cause problems.'

Sarah's heart lightened as the knot in her stomach slowly unclenched. She let go of the breath she didn't even know she was holding. 'I thought you'd gone. I mean really gone.'

The silence between them was deathly quiet until he finally admitted, 'I did.'

The knot in Sarah's stomach came flooding back as she looked away from him. Without a word, she inhaled sharply and stood up straighter, stiffening her back.

The Doctor looked back up to her, acutely aware of her self-protecting posture. He reached out to take her hand, and as his fingers brushed against hers, she jumped. She looked down at him, causing him to try to smile reassuringly before tugging on her hand. 'Sit with me, Sarah.'

She laughed nervously. 'Here, in the snow?'

As he continued to look up at her, she couldn't help but see the pleading in his eyes mixed with something else she couldn't quite put her finger on in the twilight, but she'd almost call longing. She allowed him to pull her to sit between his legs, both of them facing forward. He quickly shed his coat, draped it over her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her towards him so her back was resting against his chest. 'Comfortable?' he asked.

'You'll freeze out here without your coat,' she managed to say after a moment.

'You know I don't feel the cold like you do. Remember Antarctica, or Kastria?' As soon as the places left his lips, he instantly regretted them. He'd seen her pain and the way she'd been able channel that towards the Scandari.

She shivered at just the thought of the locations. 'Too well, I think sometimes,' she whispered.

He tightened his grip around her waist, even though his body temperature was cooler than hers, he hoped the gesture warmed her memories, if nothing else.

Sarah's emotions were on a roller coaster. A part of her wanted to let herself get lost in the fact that he was here, holding her, but another part felt that this couldn't last. 'Just this morning you said you didn't want to leave, and then you were gone.' She hung her head, unable to put anything else to words.

The Doctor started to say something, then stopped, unable to form the words. After thinking for a moment, he started again. 'I took K9, thinking we could finish the calculations to repair the chameleon circuit. We got the measurements, and I set a course for Logopolis, but I couldn't do it.' He took a deep breath. 'Every fibre of my being screamed to come back. I couldn't leave you again, not by choice.'

She turned enough to see his face, but not enough to break his embrace. She didn't respond, but simply waited for him to continue.

'Very few things in the universe frighten me, Sarah.' He took a deep breath, steeling himself. 'My feelings for you chief amongst them.'

Surprised, she let his words wash over her. 'What are you saying?'

'On Gallifrey, I saw things in the Matrix. Your future. Mine. I couldn't come back.' He leaned forward slightly, resting his head against the side of hers and closing his eyes.

Sarah closed her eyes and concentrated on what she couldn't see. The vulnerability in his words was almost tangible. Rather than push, she focused on something else. 'But you're here, so did something change?'

'I've shifted universes, Sarah.' He opened his eyes enough to see the confused look flash across Sarah's face as she opened her eyes. 'So many things have happened, most of them unimportant,' he admitted. 'Except, most recently, I got trapped in E-Space. We found a gateway to come back, but somehow it was at the wrong point.'

'What's E-Space?'

He lifted his head to explain. 'Pocket universe outside of our own, but not a parallel. In coming back, we slid into a parallel, not the actual N-Space universe I originated from.' He looked at her, 'Some things are the same, but others are different. There are universes out there where I never met you, universes where you still travel with me and universes where you're here and I'm amongst the stars.'

'Doctor?' she questioned, wanting him to continue.

'Sliding into another universe is giving me a chance to change what I saw in the Matrix. Remember before I went to Metebelis Three all those years ago? I knew I was going into something that was going to either kill me or cause me to regenerate.' He watched as Sarah nodded, getting lost in her own memories of that time. He leaned forward, speaking softly just into her ear. 'In my universe, I was running headlong into another regeneration.'

Sarah tensed up, and covered his hands with hers, giving them a gentle squeeze.

'I'm not ready, Sarah,' he whispered as he closed his eyes and leaned into her hair. 'There are so many things I still want to do, and now maybe I can.'

'Such as?' her voice dropped to a whisper to match his.

'With each new companion, I pushed my feelings for you further and further back. I didn't think that we could ever be. Yet now we have a chance, if you're willing.' He opened his eyes and pulled back enough to see her expression as he said, 'I could stay here.'

She laughed. 'Oh come on, you can't be serious.'

He reached up and cupped her cheek with one hand as his voice dropped to a level Sarah hadn't heard from him before. 'I am serious. I could stay here on Earth, Sarah.' His thumb traced lightly across her cheekbone. 'Together,' he whispered. 'You and I.'

She turned to better see his eyes, neither one of them speaking for several moments. 'I don't know what to say,' she finally responded.

'I can park the TARDIS in a nice quiet corner somewhere out of the way. Go back to UNIT and keep myself busy that way.'

She shook her head. 'Doctor, this doesn't even sound like you. You told me how much you hated being exiled here before, then once you had your freedom you never wanted anyone or anything to lock you to one planet again. Now you've supposedly just shifted universes, but it's like you shifted personalities too and you're volunteering to stay. Something is wrong.'

She felt him sigh before he responded. 'I was travelling with Adric when we got drawn into a conflict on one of the outer fringe planets and he was killed. Nasty race, the Zeredians. Green, with flippers rather than arms and legs. Look a bit like walking sea tortoises.'

'I'm sorry,' she said sincerely. She knew how fortunate she was to have made it through their time together relatively unscathed, considering how many deaths they were surrounded by in their travels.

'It wasn't his time, Sarah. I'd seen a flash of the future in my universe. He was always going to die in my company, but not like this.'

Sarah couldn't stop tears from forming, knowing how much pain the Doctor must've been in, having had death come so close. She reached up with one hand and quickly wiped them away.

The Doctor continued. 'I'm constantly reminded how dangerous my life is, and yet I keep putting my friends in that same danger.' He paused and leaned forward, resting his head against hers again even as he wrapped both arms back around her waist and held her tightly. 'I was sitting here thinking about all the times you were nearly killed when you were with me.'

'It wasn't always like that though.'

'It was more times than I care to think about.'

'But we made it, we're both still here.' She looked up at him and saw something that hadn't been there when she'd travelled with him. She noticed, not for the first time since his return, how his hair had lightened with the appearance of some grey. The lines in his face seemed deeper and his eyes somehow had an ache to them she didn't remember. The pools of blue seemed to have lost their sparkle and were tinged with pain and sadness. That alone hurt her heart more than she cared to admit.

They sat in the quiet for several moments, snow falling all around them. Finally, the Doctor said, 'I'm over 800 now Sarah Jane and feel every bit of it. Maybe I've just worn out my welcome on the universe as a whole.'

She smiled and tried to lighten his mood. 'You, Doctor? Please. The universe wouldn't know what to do without you. ' She could see she wasn't getting a response from him. 'Come on, Doctor, you're not making sense.'

'I'm making perfect sense.' He pushed back slightly, putting a little distance between them. 'I can't save everyone, Sarah.'

She shook her head in agreement. 'No, unfortunately, you can't.' She reached up and ran her hand along his face. 'No one is asking you to save everyone. I know how much it must've hurt for you to have lost Adric.'

'My companions are either leaving or dying and there's nothing I can do to stop it.'

'People always come and go from our lives, it's just the way things are. It doesn't matter if you're a Time Lord or just a mere human. Everything has it's time and everything ends.'

'Well, I'm tired of it!' he said, louder and more harshly than he intended before lowering his voice again. 'I just want to stay in one place and live out my days in peace.'

'Gonna go find a quiet planet somewhere where you can sit by the side of a lake and fish and nap and basically try to stay out of trouble?' Sarah teased. 'Does such a place even exist?'

'I am not the magnet for trouble you seem to think I am, Sarah.'

'Ha, since when?' She pointed a finger at his chest and smiled. 'I think trouble is your middle name, Doctor. In fact, I may start calling you that. Trouble. It suits you.'

Her smile lightened his hearts. 'How much trouble could I possibly get into here on Earth?'

'Let me see, I bet I could just ask the men at UNIT.'

'Ah, but we're not asking them. I'm asking you. I don't have to actively seek things out.'

'Doctor, you do realise we just warded off an invasion by the Scandari? I'm sure you weren't actively seeking that.'

He quickly tapped her nose with the tip of his finger and smiled. 'You, my Sarah Jane, pretty much single-handedly dealt with our Scandari friends. Besides, no one said that life on Earth couldn't be an adventure too.' He looked into her eyes for a long moment. 'I need a change, Sarah.'

'I understand that,' she said softly. She ran her hand absently across his chest, focusing on her hand and specifically not looking into his eyes. 'I tell you what. You're welcome to stay here for a couple of weeks, see if this is something you really want to do. Think of it like a holiday. My gut tells me that once you get some rest, you'll be ready to go back out into the universe to keep doing what you've always done.'

'If I did go back out into the universe, would you come with me? I meant what I said, I don't want to leave you.'

She hesitated. There was once a time when she never would've thought twice about saying yes. Now though, something was different. She took a deep breath. 'I'd have to think about it.'

'Sarah, I never thought I'd see you again, and now, here we sit in the snow. You're still my best friend, and have no desire to lose that.'

Sarah allowed her head to rest against his chest. 'Me either, Doctor,' she said softly.

They sat there together in silence for quite some time. The Doctor reached up and ran a hand along Sarah's cheek and realised how cold she was getting, even though he knew she'd never admit it. He stood up and pulled Sarah up with him. He grabbed his coat and wrapped it around her tightly. 'You're freezing. Here, let's get you inside and out of these wet clothes.' Putting an arm around her shoulders, he held her tightly to him as they walked up towards the manor house.

~!~!~!~


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

Sarah stirred from sleep when she felt someone staring at her. She opened her eyes, and even before they adjusted to the dark, she could make out the Doctor's silhouette standing in the doorway. She looked up at him, but said nothing as he came to stand just next to the bed.

She shifted to the side slightly to make room as he sat down on the edge of the bed. He turned towards her, reached out and squeezed her hand as she closed her eyes. The Doctor simply watched her, a peaceful smile on his face. He had forgotten until the last couple of days just how much he'd missed Sarah. His plan had always been to return until he'd seen their future in the Matrix and knew he couldn't. When he realised he'd shifted universes, he was no longer bound to what he'd seen in the Matrix, and thought the best thing to do was just to continue on. In coming to "borrow" K9, he expected to be able to quickly sneak in and out without seeing her, yet because of his error in timing, here she was. Now, things were different and he had no idea what the future held. For either of them.

What he could've never predicted was that he would now be sitting on the edge of her bed, watching her sleep. It was something he never thought he'd see again. Unable to resist any longer, he reached out and gently traced his fingers along Sarah's face.

Sarah opened her eyes again and smiled. She hadn't expected the Doctor to stay sitting on the edge of her bed. When he'd sat down, she'd noticed that he was only wearing his shirt and trousers. Gone were the waistcoat, overcoat and scarf. There was a relaxed look to him that she wasn't used to seeing outside of those extremely rare moments in the TARDIS. She pulled down the blanket next to her and looked up at him.

He watched her eyes for a moment before slipping off his boots and sliding into bed beside her. He adjusted the blankets around them and then wrapped his arms around her and guided her head down to rest against his chest.

Sarah draped her arm around the Doctor's waist as she thought about the instinctive way they curled together. In the handful of times this had happened before, they'd managed to find their most comfortable places next to each other. Sarah closed her eyes as the Doctor reached up and began to run his hand soothingly through her hair. Within a few moments, his double heartbeat echoing in her ears worked as a peaceful lullaby to send her back to sleep.

As the Doctor felt Sarah's breathing even out, he knew she'd drifted back off. Leaning down and dropping a gentle kiss on the top of her head, it wasn't long before he closed his eyes and joined her in sleep.

~!~!~!~

The sunlight brightened Sarah's bedroom considerably, but it was quite some time before Sarah noticed it. As she finally stirred, she could feel the Doctor's arms still loosely wrapped around her. 'Wakey wakey?' the Doctor asked quietly with a smile.

Sarah turned in his embrace to face him, but not before glancing at the clock. 'It's after 10am,' she said disbelievingly.

He shifted his arms around her. 'You've had a rough couple of days. I thought it best to let you sleep as much as you wanted.'

Sarah reached out and ran a hand along the Doctor's face. 'As many times,' her words fell off to silence as she thought back to those times on the TARDIS. Finally, she continued, her voice just above a whisper, 'You've never been here in the morning.'

The Doctor leaned across and kissed Sarah on the forehead. 'Times change, Sarah.'

She propped herself up on an elbow. 'I want to know more about this alternate universe. How can you tell you've shifted?'

'A Time Lord knows. I can feel when things are off, but ultimately it doesn't matter.'

Sarah reached out and rubbed her hand along the Doctor's upper arm. 'It does to me. Will you shift back at some point? Disappear?'

He shook his head. 'No. At least that's not in the plan.'

'How many times do things actually go according to plan?' she asked absently, not truly expecting an answer. She watched the Doctor for a moment, but he didn't answer her, only gave her a small smile. She returned his smile as she settled back down in his arms. 'Speaking of plans, when you arrived, you were gung ho on grabbing K9 and leaving without even a word. Now you're all talk about staying here. I don't know what to believe.'

'I wanted K9's help and yes, I planned on grabbing him and going. I never expected to see you.'

Sarah sighed and pulled away from him. 'I see, so all this has just been an afterthought.'

The Doctor shook his head and reached up to cup Sarah's cheek with one hand as he scooted closer to her. 'No, Sarah. No. While it wasn't my intention, this universe has other plans and has given us a second chance. I left you once, I won't to do it again.'

'So you were serious? About staying?'

'Never more serious in all my lives. I've made a lot of choices in my 800 plus years, and some choices were taken out of my hands. This is a choice that can't be taken away.' He paused for a moment, reading the expression on her face. 'Unless, of course, you don't agree. This is your choice too, Sarah.'

'If you've shifted universes, won't there be a version of you in this universe? The one that belongs in this universe?'

He looked down at her, then rolled over on his back to stare up at the ceiling. 'Possibly, but he's not here with you, so he's an idiot.'

'Doctor,' Sarah said chiding him as she turned onto her back to mirror his posture. 'Be fair, like you said, there were choices you couldn't make, and I'm sure if you could've been here, you would have.' She turned her head to look at him. 'If you stay, and if there is another version of you running around, is there a chance we would run into him? And if so, would it be dangerous? Or would he switch over to another universe too?'

The Doctor laughed. 'So many questions. Good to know that's not changed.'

'Well?'

'I don't honestly know, Sarah. It's one of those things we'll just have to face if and when the time comes. My feeling is that if there's a version of me here, he's going to regenerate soon, if he's not done so already.' He turned his head so their gazes locked. 'I want to stay here, on Earth with you, Sarah. But only if you agree to it, and before you say anything, there are some things you need to know.'

~!~!~!~

Sarah carried two mugs of tea across the kitchen and handed one to the Doctor. 'Breakfast?' she asked him.

'Toast?' he asked with a smile. 'I've seen your attempt at scrambled egg,' he said softly as he winked at her.

She stuck her tongue out at him before turning and popping some bread into the toaster. While waiting for it, she glanced back at where the Doctor was now sitting at the table and had reached for the newspaper that was folded specifically to highlight a particular story. Lavinia's doing, no doubt. Sarah frowned, thinking how out of place the Doctor looked in such a domestic setting.

Her attention was drawn back to the toaster as it popped. She quickly grabbed the toast, putting it on a plate and taking it and some jam back to the table.

'Looks like our friendly Scandari managed to make the local paper this morning,' the Doctor said with a smile, handing the paper over to Sarah.

Sitting down, Sarah looked at the morning's headline. 'Explosion Rocks Local Manor,' she read aloud. 'Well, I suppose that's one way of looking at it.' She glanced through the article. 'The police are blaming it on a gas line. That's as good as anything.'

'Well, it is what we agreed to tell them,' the Doctor said around bites of toast.

Sarah looked over at him, a confused look crossing her features. 'Who's we?' she asked.

'Lavinia and I. We discussed it yesterday while you were asleep and thought under the circumstances it would raise fewer suspicions.'

Sarah sat back and crossed her arms, not sure what to think about the Doctor and her aunt plotting together. 'I suppose so.' She took a piece of toast and after taking a bite, went back to reading the article.

The Doctor watched as Sarah nibbled at her toast and read the rest of the article. After a few moments of just watching her, he spoke. 'Sarah, about those conditions we discussed earlier, you haven't said anything.'

Sarah looked up and set the paper down. 'Most of them are fairly straightforward. Do I really need to think too much about them?' She lifted the paper back up and resumed her reading.

He reached out and took the paper from her hands and put it on the table, then took one of her hands in his. 'You should, Sarah. I need to know that you understand and accept them, knowing that it impacts both of our lives.'

She looked up at him and frowned. When she spoke, it was matter of fact, no emotions in any of the words. 'It seems simple enough to me. You said that you want to stay here, but in doing so, it takes you out of the time vortex. Time Lords get their energy from the vortex, and without that, you will need to get your energy the same way everyone else does, by food and sleep. So over time, you'll wind up sleeping and eating the same or more than humans. Additionally, you will visually age comparable to a human of the same apparent age. Does that about cover it?' She waited for his response.

His look was grim. 'Not completely.'

She sighed. 'The only thing else was the regeneration aspect.'

The Doctor slid his chair closer to Sarah's. 'Yes. Are you all right with that?'

She nodded, before standing up and walking across the room. 'Before you arrived, you felt that a regeneration was imminent. But you've decided to change your lifestyle, so we don't know whether that might happen in a year, five years or fifty years, you said.' She glanced back at him as he stood up.

'I did.'

'And you can't promise what happens after that.'

'I can't.' He walked over to her, and took her by the shoulders, turning her to face him. 'You know how I changed after my last regeneration. I wasn't like my old grey-haired model.'

'Yes, I'm aware.' She put her hand up on the centre of his chest, resting it directly between his hearts. 'You're giving me a chance to be with you, for an undetermined number of years, with no promise of anything past your regeneration. I could get a year with you or a lifetime. You want to know if I'm willing to accept those terms.'

He reached up and cupped her cheek in his hand. 'I am.'

Sarah took a deep breath. 'You just brought this up an hour ago. I couldn't possibly give you an answer in that amount of time. I mean you've been talking about staying since our scuffle with the Scandari, but yet mere moments before that, you were planning on taking K9 and disappearing without a word. I have to reconcile that, Doctor, and I can't do it in just an hour.'

'I understand,' he said softly, never taking his hand away from her cheek. 'Take your time, Sarah. I plan on being around a long time, if you'll have me.'

She closed her eyes and tilted her head into his caress as she reached up to cover his hand with hers. The Doctor brought his other hand up to cradle her face. Without a word, he leaned in and gently kissed her, but felt her tense up. As he pulled back, her eyes opened to look at him. At his easy smile, she relaxed and returned his smile. He caressed her cheeks before leaning back in for another kiss, deepening it as he shifted his hands from her face to wrap his arms around her and hold her close.

~!~!~!~

The Doctor sat across from the Brigadier in his office at UNIT headquarters. The Doctor had his feet propped up on the Brigadier's desk. He sighed as he reached up and slid his hat down over his eyes.

'I must say, Doctor, I was surprised when Benton told me you were here. It's been over six years since we'd last seen or heard from you.'

'Oh, I've been around, Brigadier.' The Doctor pushed his hat back to look across at his old friend. 'Have you had a chance to think about my offer?'

'For you to come back full time as our scientific advisor?' The Brigadier eyed the Doctor suspiciously. 'You were very keen to get back to your travelling lifestyle from the moment you first came here. Almost your entire time here you spent tinkering in that TARDIS of yours while trying to outsmart your precious Time Lord superiors. After you changed your face this last time, you disappeared, Miss Smith and my M.O. in tow, with no inclination to return. So forgive me Doctor if I'm not exactly sure why you want to return now.'

'My reasons are my own, Brigadier, but suffice it to say, I plan on being around quite some time.'

The Brigadier opened a file on his desk, looked down at the contents, then passed it over to the Doctor. 'Doctor, I would be declared officially unfit for duty if I turned down your offer of assistance. And seeing as you never officially resigned, I'm always more than happy to have you around.' He smiled, 'I can even arrange to have that car of yours taken out of storage.'

The Doctor smiled, 'Excellent! I'll be staying in Moreton Harwood, at least for now.' He started examining the contents of the folder.

'Moreton Harwood? Why does that name ring a bell?' The Brigadier thought for a moment. 'Ah, yes, there was some hullaballoo down there about a year or so ago about a bunch of the locals involved in some coven that was practising human sacrifice.'

Sitting up sharply, dropping the folder on the desk and putting his feet down, the Doctor leaned forward. 'Human sacrifice? Are you certain?'

The Brigadier nodded, even as he tried to recall the details. 'It was in all the papers. As a matter a fact, your Miss Smith pretty much single-handedly exposed the whole thing. She tried to stay low key, so we sent a couple people down there to assist with some of the clean up.'

'Really?' The Doctor made a mental note to ask Sarah about it later. 'That was very nice of you.'

'We do try to watch out for your former associates, Doctor. When we know about them, of course.'

Eager to change the subject, the Doctor said quietly, 'And I'm sure they appreciate it.' He stood up. 'Time for me to be getting back.' He gestured at the folder on the desk. 'Dolomite lime powder. The Metarics have acid running through their systems. The lime will slow them down enough for you to arrange transport back to their homeworld.'

The Brigadier picked up the folder. 'Thank you, Doctor. I'll have them bring your car down to you in Moreton Harwood.' The Doctor made his way to the door, and just as he was leaving, the Brigadier called back out to him. 'Oh Doctor?' The Doctor paused and looked back to the Brigadier. 'Give Miss Smith my regards.'

With a final smile, the Doctor headed out the door, closing it behind him.

~!~!~!~


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

Sarah stood outside the TARDIS, running her fingers absently along the key in her hand. The Doctor had been working on a project that had taken up the better part of the last fortnight, but he'd seemed bound and determined to complete it before he would discuss Sarah's final decision. She wasn't sure quite what to expect from him. It had been almost a month since he'd proposed staying on Earth, even going so far as to secure his position at UNIT, yet Sarah kept expecting him to change his mind. She steeled herself by taking a deep breath, still unsure whether to let him in one hundred percent.

It had taken her quite some time after he'd unceremoniously dropped her off for her to get her bearings and settle back down into life on Earth. She'd worked hard at getting her career back on track and things were going well. Then he sent her K9 and she'd stepped back into doing what they always did, just not amongst the stars. She missed the travel and seeing other starscapes and environments, but she'd managed to see quite a bit of her own planet as well.

She'd resigned herself to staying Earthbound and living a life without the Doctor. Except now, he was back in her day-to-day existence and didn't seem to be going anywhere. However, they weren't the same people, they couldn't go back to the way things were when they travelled together. Things had changed for both of them in those intervening years. She absently wondered if the differences now would better suit them, so that they could be for each other what they never could have been before.

She took another deep breath and reached out to unlock the door. He'd asked her to meet him here, so she guessed he'd finished his project and was now ready to talk to her. She opened the door, crossed the threshold and smiled. It was the first time she'd been in the TARDIS since he'd come back. She'd purposefully not gone inside, knowing that once she did, it would be harder to say goodbye if he did decide to leave again.

She smiled as the familiarity of the white console room filled her senses. She gently ran a hand along the console and felt a hum of acceptance from the TARDIS itself. With a smile, she headed towards the interior door, following the Doctor's instruction to meet her in the galley. She allowed the TARDIS to guide her and just absorbed the atmosphere and tried to ignore how much she felt as if she were home.

~!~!~!~

Sarah walked into the room and gasped at the scene around her. Despite being on the interior of the TARDIS, it looked like she'd walked out into the open countryside. The walls seemed to disappear, and she was unable to tell the difference between the walls and the ceiling. She turned around and took it all in before she finally spied the Doctor walking towards her, a grin spread from ear to ear.

'So what's this then?' Sarah asked, gesturing at the room around her.

The Doctor spun around, arms outstretched. 'Our escape, Sarah Jane.'

Sarah smiled, 'Care to clarify that a bit more, Doctor?'

'Well, when the mundane day to day living gets to us…'

She cut him off. 'Gets to you.' At his glare, she shrugged. 'Sorry, please continue.'

'When it gets to us, Sarah,' he said, emphasizing the "us". 'This is our little space away from Earth.'

Sarah looked up at the "ceiling" and marvelled at how much it truly looked like the sky. Just not the sky as seen from anywhere on Earth. Even the lighting in the room reflected a different atmosphere. 'So where are we supposed to be?'

The Doctor walked over to stand behind her, hands on her shoulders as he leaned in and whispered in her ear. 'We could be anywhere, Sarah. Any time, any place in the universe. All without leaving the safety of Earth or the TARDIS.'

He caught her around the waist and spun her around to face him so she could see his wide smile. She reached up and put a hand on his chest. 'Are you sure about this?' she asked tentatively. 'Really sure? I know that this is what you say you want, but are you going to feel the same way in a month, in a year, in five years?'

He sighed. 'Sarah, Gallifreyan concepts of affection, devotion and commitment cannot be easily explained by mere human words. I'll do whatever you ask to prove it to you. Some grand gesture, perhaps?'

She shook her head. 'No, nothing like that. That's not me. Not us.' She leaned forward and rested her head against his chest. He reached up and began to run a hand through her hair. 'It's just…' she started before taking a deep breath. 'I want you to stay, more than anything. It took me so long to get over you leaving last time. I'm not sure I can go through that again.'

'Don't you trust me, Sarah?'

She looked up at him. 'I trust you with my life,' she answered without hesitation. He knew from the look on her face there was something more. He could see tears forming at the corners of her eyes as she paused before adding, 'But if we're being completely honest, I'm just not sure I trust you with my heart.'

He wrapped his arms around her. 'Oh Sarah. I will protect your life with mine and give you my hearts in the hope that in time you'll be able to trust me with yours.' He felt her begin to cry at his words, and just tightened his arms around her, dropping a kiss on the top of her head.

~!~!~!~

JANUARY 1983

Sarah walked into the living room and sighed as she saw the Doctor staring out the window. He had his arm up against the window frame and his head resting against his arm. Now that he wore no scarf and no heavy coat, there was something obviously missing, his tall frame seemed more exposed. He had the look of a lost man aching to regain what he'd left behind.

Sarah bowed her head. It made her heart heavy to know the look that radiated from his eyes when he observed the same landscape and the same stars day after day. It was the same look she carried in her own eyes for so long when she'd returned to earth.

Taking a deep breath, she walked across the room to stand behind him. She rested her palms on his shoulders. As he turned and looked down at her, she gave him a gentle smile. He gave her a smile in return, but his gaze quickly returned to the window.

Sarah ran her hands down along his back, then wrapped her arms around his waist, closed her eyes and rested her forehead against his back. 'You miss it, don't you?' she asked softly.

With her arms around him, she felt, more than heard him as he sighed. 'Yes, I do,' he finally admitted after a long moment.

'I'm sorry,' Sarah whispered. She turned her head slightly, never losing contact with his back. After another few moments, she opened her eyes and stepped back away from him, but not before resting her hand once more against his back before walking away. She crossed the room and sat in one of the nearby chairs, staring straight ahead, weighing her words before turning back to the Doctor. 'You don't have to stay, you know.'

The Doctor spun around to face her. 'What?' he wasn't loud, but it seemed like it, given their previously hushed tones. In only a couple of strides, he made his way from the window to kneel in front of Sarah. 'What would make you say that?' Before she even had a chance to answer, he reached out and put a finger under her chin, lifting it to look into her eyes. 'Sarah, you didn't ask me to stay. I volunteered. I do miss travelling, of course, but the benefits of staying more than outweigh that.'

'Doctor, I,' Sarah started, but he quickly silenced her with a finger over her lips.

He stood up and held out a hand to her. 'Let me show you something.' She took his hand as she stood up, letting him guide her back to the window. 'See that?' he asked as he stood behind her.

Sarah looked out in the direction that the Doctor was looking. She could see a figure, completely wrapped in white, with seemingly no features, standing on the other side of the street facing their direction. 'What's that, or rather who is that?'

This time it was the Doctor's turn to rest his hands on Sarah's shoulders. He leaned in, and when he whispered, his breath moved the hair by Sarah's ear. 'It's me.'

She turned her head ever so slightly, even though her gaze never left the figure in white. 'How's that work?'

'That's how I knew my time in this body would come to an end if I continued on the path I was on. He came to warn me of what was to come. ' The Doctor gently turned Sarah so she was facing him, instead of the window as his hands came to rest on her upper arms. 'Regenerating again, leaving everything and everyone behind. I'd already left you once and regretted it. You know how it was the last time. Feelings change and my memories seem to be someone else's. A new man saunters off and heads to a new life, never looking back.' He absently rubbed her upper arms with his hands. 'I couldn't do it, Sarah. I wasn't ready to let go. To let you go.'

She reached up, running a hand through his wild mane of curls before giving him an easy smile, but saying nothing, just letting his words wash over her. Finally, a thought occurred to her. 'Does him being there mean you're soon going to regenerate, or is he there all the time? It's been over a year since you decided to stay, so how come I've not seen him before?'

'He's only there when I need reminding.'

Sarah nodded ever so slightly. 'Reminded of what?'

He guided his hands up to cup her face and his thumbs traced absently along her cheeks. 'How precious this is, Sarah. What we have. You make it worth living out my time in this body day by day.' He watched as tears formed on the edges of her eyes. Without a word, he leaned in and kissed the tears away just as they fell.

'Sorry,' she said after a minute. I'm just emotionally overwhelmed, I think.'

The Doctor laughed as he let his hand slide down to her swollen belly. 'The human and Gallifreyan hormones are having a field day in your system, Sarah.'

She covered his hand with hers and laughed. 'Don't I know it! Fortunately, there are only a couple months left.' She shook her head to clear her thoughts. 'I'm sorry I've been such a wreck lately.'

'Par for the course.' He led her back to sit on the nearby sofa. 'That's partly what had me pondering as well. Given the telepathic nature of Time Lords, our little one here has a bit of that already coursing through her system. She's sharing what you're going through.'

Sarah nodded. 'Yet another change for us.'

He grinned his trademark Cheshire cat smile. 'I can't wait.'

~!~!~!~


	8. Epilogue

EPILOGUE

DECEMBER 2010

The sunlight just began to trickle into the bedroom window on Bannerman Road. Stirring, Sarah smiled at the familiar weight of the Doctor's arm draped around her waist. She delicately slid out from under his arm, trying her best not to disturb him. She pulled on her robe and walked over to the window, peeking out between the slats of the blinds. She turned back to the bed and smiled as the light began to dance off of the Doctor's curly, but now closer cropped white hair as he continued his slumber. She noticed as the years had gone by that he'd gotten into much more of a human sleeping pattern, just as he'd described all those years ago. Lately though, he'd been sleeping even more than normal. She buried the thought, not wanting anything to break her good mood.

Sarah headed downstairs to make tea, knowing the smell would eventually rouse the Doctor from his sleep. As she got to the kitchen, Luke was already there, munching on a piece of toast. 'Morning, Mum,' he mumbled around bites.

'Morning Luke. How long have you been up?'

'Not long. Dad still asleep?' Sarah nodded silently as she poured herself some tea. Luke continued, 'He's been doing a lot of that lately. Sleeping more than normal, I mean. Last three months, based on my calculations, he's sleeping an average of ten hours a night. That's not normal for a Time Lord.'

Sarah frowned, Luke had just put his finger on the one thing that had been bothering her. 'I know. He's been in that body a long time, relatively speaking. Maybe it's just a factor of aging, just like with humans.' She tried to sound reassuring, not wanting to upset Luke, even though she knew more than she was letting on. 'Seen your sister this morning?'

Luke shook his head. 'No, was she supposed to be here?'

'She said she was coming in early for Christmas. I figured she'd be here already.'

'Well, Andy runs on her own time schedule. It's like she's in another world sometimes.'

Sarah laughed, 'Well that is her nature, certainly.'

Luke went back to the original conversation. 'As for Dad, we could get Mr. Smith to scan him.'

'That's really not necessary, Luke,' the Doctor said as he walked into the kitchen, ruffling Luke's hair as he walked by him.

'I'm just worried, Dad.'

'No need,' the Doctor dismissed, his blue eyes still just as bright as he looked at Luke. He could almost see the wheels in the young man's mind working. Something he was proud of and encouraged, just as Sarah did. 'I'm fine, really.'

Sarah handed him a cup of tea, and before taking it, he reached up and cupped her cheek with one hand, exchanging a knowing glance with her. She managed a weak smile in return, as that feeling of dread that had been lingering began to re-establish itself as a knot in her stomach.

Luke stood up, popping the last of his toast in his mouth and following it with a swig of orange juice. 'I promised Clyde I'd meet him first thing this morning. He wants me to help him pick out a Christmas gift for Rani. He wants something extra special.'

The Doctor laughed. 'And Mister "I'm too cool for you" wants assistance? Must be some sort of special gift.'

Luke smiled, 'I'm not sure what he has up his sleeve, but it should be interesting. You know how he feels about Rani.' He gave the Doctor a quick hug and kissed Sarah on the cheek before heading quickly out.

Sarah walked over to the doorway, making sure he was gone before she turned back to where the Doctor was now sitting in Luke's chair at the table. She walked over to sit across from him, allowing her hand to brush across his shoulder as she passed by. 'We're going to need to tell him at some point, Doctor.' She paused a moment. 'Andy should be home any time now for the Christmas holiday. We really should tell them both at the same time.'

The Doctor frowned, before reaching across the table to cover Sarah's hand with his. 'Nonsense, Sarah. We have plenty of time. No need to worry them before it's strictly necessary.'

Sarah turned her hand in order to squeeze his. 'Doctor, we know what's happening, how much time do we really have left?'

The Doctor shook his free hand dismissively, 'More than enough. We always knew…'

She cut him off, pulling her hand back to herself. 'It's never more than enough,' she said softly.

The Doctor stood up, walked over to the sink and looked out the small window. 'Sarah,' he started.

'I'm selfish, is that really surprising? I've had almost thirty years with you, I don't want that to end anytime soon.' She walked over to stand behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head against his back.

He covered her hands with his and sighed, but said nothing.

'You miss it, don't you? The travelling?'

'You asked me that same question years ago when you were pregnant with Andrea.' He continued to look out the window absently and hesitated before finally admitting. 'The answer is still the same. I imagine I always will, Sarah.'

Sarah closed her eyes and took a deep breath, relishing the feel of him in her arms, committing each moment to memory. 'How much time?' she asked again.

The Doctor turned and wrapped his arms around Sarah. 'It could be three to six months, but it could easily be another five years or more. I honestly have no idea.' He rested his chin on the top of her head. 'This is all new to me as well, Sarah. I've only grown old and regenerated due to old age once before, but even the circumstances then were different. I was travelling extensively and the wear out happened faster than even I expected at the time.'

Sarah looked up at him. 'If I knew that I had three to six months to live, would you want to know?'

He looked down at her, surprise radiating from his expression. 'Sarah, is there something you haven't told me?'

'No, I'm trying to make a point. If it were me, you would want to know, and you would insist we tell Andy and Luke. They know you're not human and Luke has noticed your increased sleep habits the last couple of months. The Bane made him extremely intelligent and he's putting the pieces together. Andy's always known something would happen, and I think she has an idea with that slight bit of telepathy she has. Did you see the way she watched you last time she was here? Do you want them to just figure it out, then be hurt and disappointed because we weren't honest with them, or should we sit them down together and explain what's going on, so they're not surprised?'

'And how do we do that? Luke, listen, I know I'm the only father you've ever known, but I'm only going to be with you a few more months. Andrea, there's something about me that you need to know. I'm going to change and disappear. It was an agreement your mother and I made many years ago.'

Sarah pulled away from him and sighed. 'Not in those exact words, no.' She couldn't process any more at the moment, so she began to walk away. She glanced back at the Doctor, but he'd turned and was again staring out the window.

~!~!~!~

Sarah made her way into the attic and stared at the TARDIS, parked in the far corner. 'Mr. Smith, I need you,' she said softly, ignoring the supercomputer's fanfare as he slid out of the wall.

'Yes, Sarah Jane.'

'Any activity we need to be aware of?'

'An Arcalian freighter is moving through the outer edges of the galaxy, but nothing out of the ordinary beyond that.'

Sarah nodded silently, but then her gaze wandered back towards the TARDIS.

'Sarah Jane,' Mr. Smith intoned. 'You seem distracted. Is there something else I may assist with?'

'As a matter of fact, there might be. Do you have a current up to date scan of the Doctor?'

'Nothing within the last couple of years. The Doctor is always hesitant to allow me to scan him. He perceives it as being too dangerous for the data to be stored, in case somehow my systems should be compromised. As you know, that would be extremely unlikely, but I have to respect his decision.'

Sarah frowned. 'Well, I don't. The next time he comes up here, are you able to scan him without him knowing about it?'

'Sarah Jane,' the Doctor's voice boomed warningly from the doorway.

She spun around to face him, arms crossed only to be met by his steely gaze. 'Well, I'm sorry,' she shouted, her tone the opposite of an apology. She lowered her voice. 'I'm worried. I'm allowed, you know.'

He walked over and gently put his hands on her shoulders. 'I know you are, Sarah.' He sighed resignedly and went to stand in front of Mr. Smith. 'All right, Mr. Smith. Do a full medi-scan.'

'As you wish, Doctor,' the computer replied before sending out a beam of light that quickly scanned the Doctor. The display on the screen changed and began to show the images of the scan. 'Your scans all read in the normal range, Doctor, although full biological comparisons are difficult without additional data.'

The Doctor turned to Sarah. 'Satisfied?'

'Not really. You already explained to me what would happen. I know what signs I'm looking for. This is mostly about your reluctance to tell our children.'

The Doctor reached out and took Sarah's hands in his. 'We'll tell them. After Christmas, before Andy heads back to Cardiff and Luke goes back to Oxford.' He leaned in and kissed her forehead. ' Let's not spoil Christmas for them. Or for us.'

'I hate this. If I'd known back then how much I'd hate this now…'

The Doctor wrapped his arm around Sarah's shoulder and guided her towards the TARDIS. 'Come on, I want to show you something.'

Sarah allowed him to guide her through the TARDIS corridors, towards a small conservatory full of brightly coloured flowers of all species and varieties. 'When did you do this?' she asked, her eyes full of wonder as she took in the riot of blooms. 'It's beautiful!'

The Doctor smiled broadly as Sarah smiled. 'I've been working on it a little along the last few months.' He led her by the hand to sit on one of the nearby benches. 'Sarah, I've done some thinking, and I wanted to talk to you about it. In here, away from everyone and everything.'

Her stomach knotted again, but she simply nodded.

His fingers absently traced a pattern along the back of her hand as he simply stared down at them, still marvelling how perfectly they fit together after all these years. 'Sarah, when we discussed my taking the slow path with you, we knew there would be sacrifices, and we agreed to them.'

'That by you essentially stopping travelling, you cut your exposure to the vortex.'

The Doctor squeezed her hand reassuringly. 'Time Lords feed off the energy of the time vortex. By limiting my access to it, I've essentially cut the life span of this body exponentially through the years.'

'You said you couldn't promise how long we'd have,' Sarah's voice was barely above a whisper. 'We've had almost thirty years.'

'I think I've found a way around it.'

At that, Sarah's head snapped around to look at him. 'Are you serious?' His megawatt smile instantly calmed her. 'You are serious!'

'The reason I don't want to say anything to the children is that it might not be necessary. It might be, but I just can't be sure just yet.'

Sarah stood up, a level of excitement bubbling up. 'You said that this body would age, and that you'd regenerate. At that point, you'd most likely go back to travelling. We agreed because I will have had a full life with you, but I can't keep you forever.'

'Forever is relative, Sarah.'

'You know what I mean.'

He stood up in front of her and took her face in his hands. 'No matter what happens, I want to spend as much time with you as I possibly can.' He leaned in and kissed her, holding her tightly to him. There was just as much affection and caring in his touch as there had been all those years ago.

~!~!~!~

Sarah came home to find Luke playing a computer game on his laptop. He glanced up as she walked in. 'Hey Mum. I won't be home for dinner tonight, Maria's here visiting her mum, so she's invited Clyde, Rani and I over there.'

'Thanks.' She looked around, but the Doctor was nowhere to be seen. 'Have you seen your father?'

'Not since I got home, but I've not been here that long.'

Sarah sighed. 'He's probably in the TARDIS. I'll find him.'

She made her way up to the attic, and even before she walked in, she could hear rattles and bangs that reminded her of construction noise. Walking in, she frowned as she saw Andy swinging a hammer around with more than a little enthusiasm, her long curly brown hair falling around her shoulders in waves. The Doctor was standing at the light table looking through a magnifying glass at a tiny piece of circuitry.

She watched them go back and forth, even though neither of them spoke. With a smirk, she cleared her throat. 'Having fun?'

They both turned to face her, and she couldn't get past the identical looks on their faces, two pairs of wide blue eyes staring at her like little kids who just got caught with their fingers in the cookie jar. A silly grin spread across the young woman's features. 'Hi Mum!'

'Andy,' Sarah smiled as she stepped down off the landing and embraced her daughter in a hug. 'How long have you been here?'

'Long enough to get drafted by Dad to help him out with his little project.'

The Doctor turned to Sarah. 'And as a matter of fact, this is not fun, it's necessary. Andy's helping me make sure that my calculations are accurate.'

Andy looked back and forth between her parents. 'I'm here to make sure that Dad is here for a long time to come.' Her eyes darkened and her voice got quiet. 'I'm not ready to say goodbye yet.' She knelt down and began to examine a piece of equipment in the floor.

Sarah walked up and looked into the Doctor's eyes before reaching out and gently squeezing his arm, then wrapped an arm around his waist. 'You told her?'

Andy looked up from her spot on the floor. 'He didn't have to.' She tapped her temple. 'It sort of trickled down. I'm actually on leave until this is straightened out.'

'Will this work?' Sarah asked.

The Doctor leaned over and kissed her temple. 'If we have anything to say about it, it will.'

Andy stood as she picked up a small piece of equipment, looked at it, and tossed it back on the floor before picking up a second piece and staring intently at it. 'Aha!' she said, a broad grin crossing her features. 'I can feel my hair curling!' At Sarah's amused expression, Andy continued. 'It means either it's going to rain, or I'm on to something.' She walked over towards the Doctor. 'Dad, look at this, would this work?'

The Doctor took the equipment from Andy and smiled. 'I do think it might, Andrea, I do think it might.' He squeezed her shoulder reassuringly.

'I'm surprised Luke isn't up here with you,' Sarah stated as she went back up on the landing to sit on the small sofa.

'He's here? He wasn't when we came up here,' Andy noted. She closed her eyes and concentrated, projecting a thought downstairs. Smiling, she opened her eyes. 'Less than 30 seconds, wanna bet?'

'Now Luke doesn't know,' the Doctor warned.

'That's all right, he doesn't need to for this. With what we're building, we'll be able to harness some of the rift power from Cardiff and get it to you like a nice little energy shot. Not quite as good as full on exposure to the time vortex, but it'll be the next best thing.'

As if on cue, Luke burst through the attic door. 'I didn't even know you were here yet.'

Andy looked at him. 'You didn't ask. And you didn't notice.' She pointed at her temple. 'If you want to truly work on channelling that extra brainpower the Bane gave you, you'll want to start keeping your mental radar up.'

Luke glared at her, but didn't say anything, at least verbally. Without a word, Andy turned and grabbed a piece of circuitry on the light table. Luke walked over and stood on the other side of the Doctor. The Doctor handed him the piece of equipment in his hand before clearing his throat and looking from Luke to Andy and back again. 'Stop arguing, you two, you'd think you were ten years old.' He turned back to Luke and showed him a tablet full of calculations. 'We're trying to harness that rift in Cardiff to pull on the Artron radiation and channel it into a viable means of generating energy, then be able to absorb that energy as needed.'

'Like an energy shot, almost?' Luke questioned.

The Doctor smiled broadly and put a hand on Luke's shoulder. ' Exactly.' He stepped back and let Luke and Andy stand next to each other and work at the light table. As he walked up to where Sarah was sitting, she stood up as they both heard Andy and Luke begin to go back and forth quietly, yet audibly about the project.

He wrapped his arm around Sarah's shoulder as they both stood there and watched Andy and Luke work. Sarah wrapped her arm around his waist, looked up at him and smiled. 'They're both brilliant,' she said softly.

The Doctor returned her smile. 'Yes, they are. I have no doubt that we'll get the energy figured out and then who knows what the future holds, but I look forward to finding out.' He turned and wrapped his other arm around her, pulling her close.

Sarah took a deep breath and closed her eyes, resting her head on his chest and relishing the feel of his arms around her.

Andy and Luke looked at each other, then looked up at their embracing parents before sharing a knowing smile. 'Hey you two,' Luke started.

'Quit with the lovey-dovey stuff and come over and help us, this is your project,' Andy finished the thought.

With a laugh, the Doctor and Sarah continued to hold hands as they stepped down into the main part of the attic and began to work together on the energy converter.

THE END

~!~!~!~


	9. Missing Chapter

ORDINARY WORLD – MISSING CHAPTER

_Author's Notes: 22 April, 2011 This takes place before the epilogue - but it begged to be written - instead of creating a whole new story, I just wanted to put it here. Most of this was written before Lis's passing, but I couldn't finish it until today. Elisabeth Sladen - RIP my hero, you will be forever missed.  
_

FEBRUARY 1988

Sarah felt a pair of eyes staring at her and a familiar tingle against her mind, even as she roused from sleep. The light tap on her upper arm closest to the edge of the bed confirmed her suspicions. Opening her eyes, she shifted slightly to turn and look at the little girl standing next to the bed. Even in the dim light, she could see the wetness on the child's face from tears. Sarah propped herself up on her elbow. 'What's wrong, Andrea?' she gently asked.

'I had a bad dream, Mummy. The monsters came for you and Daddy.' Andy reached up and roughly wiped away more tears with the back of her hands. 'The scary monsters,' she added before sniffing.

Sarah quickly scooped up the five year old onto the bed beside her, cuddling her close. 'It's all right, Andy, it was just a bad dream.' She reached up to wipe away Andy's tears before beginning to smooth down her wild curls in hopes of soothing her. She debated what to tell the little girl, wishing she could tell her daughter that the monsters weren't real, that they were figments of her imagination. Unfortunately, she knew that wasn't the case. Very often, the monsters in Andy's dreams were actually telepathic visions of what the Doctor was currently encountering.

'I'm scared, Mummy,' Andy sniffled again before burying her head against Sarah's chest.

Sarah held the little girl tightly. 'It's all right, you're safe.'

Sarah felt Andy relax before she shifted and tucked her head into the crook of Sarah's arm. 'Is Daddy fighting monsters again?'

Sarah glanced at the empty spot next to her on the bed. 'Yes, he is.' She turned back to Andy. 'Daddy will keep the monsters away. We'll always keep you safe.' She only hoped that last statement was true.

Andy looked up at Sarah, her blue eyes catching the reflection of the moonlight through the blinds. 'When will Daddy be home?'

'I don't know, Sweetie. Hopefully soon.'

'He's been gone a long time.'

'I know,' Sarah replied, a slight sigh in her voice.

Andy reached up, putting her small hand against Sarah's cheek. 'Mummy, can I stay here with you? I'm scared to go back in my room.'

Unable to resist her daughter's blue eyes anymore than she could resist the Doctor's, Sarah smiled. 'All right, just for tonight.' Sarah reached down and resettled the blanket over both them and while Andy rested her head on Sarah's one arm, Sarah wrapped her other arm around Andy protectively. She leaned in and kissed Andy on the head. 'Sleep well, sweetheart,' she whispered, even as she watched the little girl's eyes close. Sarah soon followed her to sleep.

~!~!~!~

The Doctor entered the house as quietly as he could, not wanting to wake Sarah or Andy. He walked into the living room where Sarah had left a small lamp on. Stepping close to the lamp, he was able to see the rips on one sleeve of his shirt, as well as a slight trickle of blood along his arm. He frowned, heading into the kitchen to try to clean himself up without waking anyone.

A few minutes later, he tiptoed upstairs and poked his head into the master bedroom. He smiled when he saw Andy curled up next to her mother, both of them sound asleep. Suddenly, Andy popped her head up and looked at him, a broad smile on her face. He quickly put his finger over his lips in a shushing gesture. Andy nodded, then carefully climbed out of bed and threw herself into the Doctor's open arms as he knelt down to catch her.

Standing up with Andy safely in his arms, he headed out of the bedroom, but not before glancing back at Sarah, hoping she was still sleeping. Sarah's eyes opened and she lifted her head, just watching them, a sleepy smile on her features. Without a word, but with a slight nod, she put her head back down.

As the Doctor carried Andy into her bedroom, she tucked her head into his shoulder against his neck. 'I'm glad you're home, Daddy,' she said softly.

'Me too, Andrea,' he replied, 'me too.'

The Doctor set her down beside her bed and pulled back the blankets so he could tuck her in. 'Are you staying home for a while?' she asked.

'I hope so,' his deep voice was soft and soothing.

'Mummy missed you, and so did I.' Andy crawled up into the bed, turned around and punched at her pillow before flopping back against it.

'I missed you both as well.' He pulled the blankets up around Andy's chin before leaning over and kissing her on the forehead. 'Now you get some sleep and I'll see you in the morning.' He started to head out, but her voice stopped him at the doorway.

'Daddy, you hurt your arm.' She reached her arm out from under the covers and pointed at him. 'Did the scary monsters do that to you?'

He watched as her lower lip trembled as she spoke. 'How do you know about the scary monsters?' He stepped back over and knelt beside the bed before resting his hand on the top of her head.

Andy tapped her temple. 'I saw them, in here, and they were really mean to you.'

The Doctor took a deep breath, thinking about his answer. His voice dropped to an almost hypnotic level. 'You don't have to worry about the monsters, Andrea. I'll always protect you.' He leaned over and kissed her forehead again before standing up and walking to the door. He gave Andy an easy smile and continued to stand in the doorway until he was sure she'd gone back to sleep.

~!~!~!~

After stopping by the bathroom to change and bandage his arm, he headed back to the bedroom and slid into bed behind Sarah. She turned towards him, even without opening her eyes as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him. 'Now this is more like it,' he whispered.

She draped her arm around his waist and tucked her head under his chin. 'Yes,' she said sleepily. 'Welcome home.'

Even as he felt Sarah's breathing even back out, his mind continued to churn on the events that kept him away. Before long, even his brain slowed down. He closed his eyes and focused on holding Sarah close to him.

As the sunlight began to break through the blinds, Sarah stirred and smiled as she remembered the Doctor having come home during the night. She snuggled up against him and reached up to run her fingers through his curly hair.

He leaned in and kissed her before pulling back and looking into her eyes. 'I much prefer waking up this way,' he said softly. 'Andrea's grown a lot since I was last home.'

'That happens in six months.'

He closed his eyes and pulled Sarah's head to rest under his chin, even as he kept his hand in her hair. 'I'm so sorry, Sarah.'

'It happens,' Sarah replied with a sigh. 'I usually know you're close to coming home when Andy starts having nightmares.'

'She's old enough now, I should be able to work with her on setting up some mental barriers. I don't want her to have to keep seeing what's happening.'

Sarah let her hand trace patterns absently along the Doctor's chest. 'Well, I have to admit it doesn't do my nerves a lot of good either. I try to keep her safe in our daily lives, but I can't protect her from the images she sees at night.'

'I need to protect her better. To protect you both better. If UNIT is going to continue to send me out on these crazy assignments to the furthest reaches of this planet, I need to make sure that neither you nor Andrea is affected.'

'Well, you're home now, that's all that matters. I know that Andy can't wait to catch up with you.' Sarah started to slide out of bed, but the Doctor pulled her back towards him. Sarah gave him a gentle smile. 'Andy will be up soon, I have to fix her breakfast.'

'Don't go, Sarah.' His voice was lower and softer than she'd heard in a long time. Sarah was transfixed by his eyes and the look he was giving her. 'I need you.'

She nestled back into his embrace and reached up to take his face in her hands, leaned in and kissed him. 'I'm not going anywhere.'

~!~!~!~


End file.
